Blab.im

How Joel got started with video

Joel shares how he signed up for his first YouTube account in 2006. The next year, he decided that video online needed to be kicked up a notch.

Inspired by the rise of YouTube and the reality show The Apprentice, in 2007 Joel produced and hosted the world’s first competitive Internet reality show, called The Next Internet Millionaire, which received an honorary Webby award for reality TV.

In 2008 UStream.tv became one of the first tools for streaming live video from a desktop, so he started doing The Joel Comm Show from his offices with co-host Dan Nickerson. They did a weekly interactive show that was usually about an hour long. Sometimes they would have a guest in his studio office, and other times they would just engage with the people who were commenting. It’s very similar to how people comment on Blab.

Joel believes streaming video is a great way to communicate, broadcast, share and deliver content, and build community.

Listen to the show to learn what was involved with filming The Next Internet Millionaire.

Joel and Blab

Joel, who has been using Meerkat, Periscope and Live for Facebook Mentions for several months, thinks it was Mia Voss who first told him about Blab. She mentioned it at the beginning of August, and he started using Blab a couple of weeks later. He has been immersed in the platform ever since.

He hosts two different shows and then logs on at other random times, either to do a Blab that’s not really a show, to hang out and talk with people or to be interviewed on somebody else’s show.

Joel hosts two shows on Blab.im.

Joel explains that Blab, in its simplest form, is a video conferencing tool that allows up to four people to be on screen at once. It’s integrated with a chat room, and whoever wants to watch a blab can do so. Viewers are also able to interact with each other and the hosts.

Blab is integrated with Twitter (your login is your Twitter account), and you’re able to easily tweet from the Blab interface. There’s a mobile app available for iOS devices and an Android app is on the way.

What’s so cool about Blab is that it works, Joel says. While Google hangouts sometimes require a whole tutorial, Blab is so simple that most people get it intuitively. Audience members click to request to join a seat. When the host approves you, you’re on the show.

People ask Joel what’s better: Periscope or Blab. He believes that’s not the right question, because it’s comparing apples to oranges.

Each live-streaming platform has its own uses, so Joel doesn’t believe they should be compared. Image: Shutterstock.

Periscope, Meerkat and Facebook Live Mentions are all one-to-many broadcasting apps. They allow one person to instantly reach and talk at their audience. It’s only a conversation in that those watching can comment, and whoever is hosting can refer to those questions and comments on video. Unless you have somebody right next to you on the screen, it’s just one person.

Blab puts the “social” component into social media in the most profound and effective way. Blab allows people to be face to face in real time without being in the same room.

Live casting and live streaming are two different things. One is not better than the other, Joel says. They are different and each one has its place.

Listen to the show to discover how influencers and early adopters feel about Blab.

How Joel uses Blab

Joel uses Blab in three ways. He does two regular shows and off-the-cuff blabs.

He uploads the recorded blab MP3 to his iTunes account, and has started to use his mixing board and add music as well. It’s not nearly as polished as his previous broadcast, Joel admits, but he is providing content to his iTunes subscribers.

On Blab, you can start and stop recording whenever you want with the click of a button.

Record your blab with the touch of a button.

After the broadcast, Blab will take all of the recorded content and compile it into one file.

Joel also does an evening show with Vincenzo Landino, called BlabTalk Live. It’s more of an entertainment-type show with fun music, goofing around (they’ll talk about words people have nominated to the Blabsaurus) and guest interviews.

The third way Joel uses Blab is spontaneously. He’ll just start a blab and begin talking to people. Those are always off the record, he adds, so you have to be there.

To start a blab, click the link in the upper-right portion of your browser, or in the lower-right corner on your mobile device.

Starting a new blab from your mobile device is easy.

Put in a title and pick up to three tags. Then either start the blab immediately or schedule one in the future. Pick a date and time, and then schedule it.

Once you schedule a blab, the people who are following you and have notifications turned on are immediately notified that you’ve scheduled a blab. You can see in real time people who are subscribing, just as you can see people who come into your room in real time.

Listen to the show to hear how Social Media Examiner is using Blab.

Businesses using Blab

Joel has seen people do American Idol-type blabs with performers and cooking shows where people cook on-camera, talk to the audience and bring in guests. He has heard of people using Blab to teach in the classroom. It’s great for support groups and special interest groups too.

Then, there’s the philanthropic approach. Joel raised money for WATERisLIFE.com on one of his blabs. They were talking about WATERisLIFE, and someone decided to auction off a $130 microphone. It sold for $401 and all of the money went to the charity. Others who were bidding and didn’t win the auction gave donations, too.

It’s a powerful platform that can be used in so many ways, Joel says.

Listen to the show to hear ideas of how to use the mobile app for remote blabs.

Blab Tips

Joel suggests using a desktop connection for your blab. You have a better view of everything that’s going on, and have a stronger connection than you would on a cellular network. The desktop app is more reliable. Plus, you can have an HD webcam positioned so you can see someone’s whole face.

Having a good microphone is really important, Joel adds. You can still blab with your webcam or your computer’s built-in mic, but you minimize the chance of an echo with a microphone. Joel uses the ATR 2100 USB mic.

Robert Scoble does a show called The Gillmor Gang with three others. They talk about the latest tech news, apps or startups. Joel says he could envision a Blab show with the same four people. They don’t bring in other guests and take questions from the audience, but it’s actual programming designed to broadcast one-way.

Listen to the show to learn about rotating guests.

Discovery of the Week

There’s a brand-new service called SumoRank from BuzzSumo.

Visit SumoRank.com and put in your Facebook page, and it will analyze your page. It’s more than just a ranking system. For example, we tried it with the Social Media Examiner Facebook page. It told us our most popular post type, as well as our most popular day of the week and the most popular time to post.

SumoRank analyzes your Facebook page content and tells you what works best and when.

SumoRank shows monthly interactions and the average engagement per post type to give you a feel for whether video versus link versus image post has more engagement. It even analyzes the engagement based on the number of characters inside the post, so you can determine whether short posts have higher engagement than longer posts. Plus, review your top posts over a period of time.

It’s very cool and it’s free. Check it out at SumoRank.com.

Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how SumoRank works for you.

Other Show Mentions

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